Machine for saturating materials



June 5, 1951 J. D. BEATTY MACHINE FOR SATURATING MATERIALS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 7, 1947 FIG. I.

FIG. 2.

INVENTOR owa 0. BEATTY M M ATTORNEYS June 5, 1951 5 J. D, BEATTY 2,555,673

MACHINE FOR SATURATING MATERIALS Filed June 7, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 as 82 ,105 I BI INVENTOR JOHN D, BEATTY BYMM ATTORNEYS June 5, 1951 J. D. BEATTY 2,555,673

MACHINE FOR SATURATING MATERIALS Filed June 7, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 6,

39a 47a 43a 32a. 30a 34a INVENTOR JOHN D. BEATTY BY 077;; Y MW ATTORNEYS Patented June 5, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

The present invention relates to a saturating machine and more particularly to a machine for saturating absorbent sheet material such as paper or dry felt with bituminous material, waxes, or other melted or dissolved substances.

In treating paper, for example, in the making of tarred felt for the building trades, it is custo mary to pass a strip of paper, by means of alternately offset rollers, in a tortuous path through a bath of heated, liquefied bituminous material. Thence the strip is passed through a cooling zone, and then is coated, as with flaked or powdered material such, for example, as talc, to prevent sticking. Thereafter, the treated strip is rolled on a mandrel, or is out and packaged for sale.

In order to cause the strip of paper to follow a tortuous path when being passed through the bath of saturating material, the strip of paper is passed alternately on opposite sides of rollers which are offset vertically from each other in a tank in which the rollers are mounted. Since the paper used for this treatment necessarily is somewhat porous so as to absorb a substantial amount of the saturating material, the paper usually is of low tensile strength. Therefore, it is a common occurrence in plants producing this type of product to have breakages occur in the paper strip within the saturating zone. When the paper strip thus breaks it is a difficult, dangerous, and time-consuming operation to re-thread the strip around the rollers and also results in a considerable wastage of paper and loss of the saturat ing material. Reduction of breakage of the paper strip is so important that it is customary, in plants manufacturing such products, to have a full-time operator stationed adjacent the intake end of the saturating bath to watch for slight tears in the edges of the paper, and to reinforce such torn spots with adhesive patches before the strip enters the saturating zone.

Furthermore, before starting up such machines after they have been shut down for some time, it has been necessary to pre-heat the upper rollers by means of steam jets or other suitable means so as to thoroughly liquefy the saturating material about these rollers, so as to prevent tearing the paper strip on resuming operations.

An object of the present invention is to make an improved and simplified saturator for strip material.

Another object is to make a saturator for strip material with continuous strip feed throughout a tortuous path through a saturating bath.

I Another object is to make a paper saturator having apair of porous beltsarranged to run in mutually contacting relation at the same speed through a bath of saturating material, the belts being so arranged as to seize and propel between them, a strip of material for saturating.

Another object is to make a paper saturator having means for positively conveying and guiding a strip of material throughout the entire length of a tortuous path through a saturating bath.

Another object is to make an improved paper saturator having a tank with a plurality of alternately ofiset rollers mounted therein, the rollers being mounted on supporting bushings which are protected from engagement with a paper strip passing through the machine, and which are not exposed exteriorly of the tank containing the rollers.

Another object is to make a paper saturator having a plurality of vertically offset guide rollers mounted in a tank for containing saturating material, simplified means being provided for maintaining saturating liquid in the tank at predetermined levels.

An illustrative embodiment for attaining these and other objects of the invention is set forth in the following description and in the accompanying drawings, comprising one sheet. In the drawings:

Fig. l is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through a paper saturating machine embodying the present invention, a bath heating and circulating system being illustrated schematically;

Fig. 2 is a section view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of an edge portion of a mesh belt employed in the structure illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through a modified form of saturating machine embodying the invention, the parts being shown more or less diagrammatically; and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing another form of the invention.

Referring to the drawings in detail, a tank 10 may be of welded steel construction. A liquidinlet pipe I l is mounted to open into the lower end of the tank l0, and is connected to a heater 12, which may be of a usual type having a pressure tight casing with a heating coil therein, the casing being adapted to receive steam under pressure from any suitable source. From the heater i2 a pipe I3 is connected to the outlet of a liquid circulating pump Id. From the pump inlet a pipe 15 is connected to a stand-pipe l! at the opposite end of the tank II] from the inlet II. The top of the stand-pipe I! is capped, and from the stand-pipe a plurality of lateral, valve controlled outlet pipes 18 open at diiferent levels into the tank HJ. All of these laterals are at higher levels than the inlet pipe I I, since it is important, during the operation of the machine, to have the inlet immersed at all times after an initial filling of the tank. Otherwise, vaporization of superheated incoming saturating material might cause a flash explosion.

A plurality of horizontally aligned upper guide rollers iii are mounted on bearings 20 and 2| which are supported on H beams22and23. These H beams, in turn, are secured,as by welding, to the inner faces of the tank sidewalls. A 'plurality of lower guide rollers 24 are mounted, also in horizontal alignment, on similar bearings 25 and 26 supported on H beams 28 and 29, which also are welded to the tank side walls. These lower guide rollers are mounted intermediately of the upper rollers l9, as best illustrated in Fig. l.

Guard plates 3G and 3! are mounted inwardly of the bearing supporting H beams to present smooth side walls to the edges of a paper strip being fed through the machine in case the strip should creep laterally toward one side or the other. This arrangementshields the paper from the'lateral structural members, such as the H beams, which otherwise'might tear the edges of the paper and thus contaminate the saturating bath. It could not, however, as in ordinary paper saturating machines, by tearing the strip entirely in two, disrupt the feeding f the paper through the bath. This feature will be more clearly apparent on understanding the structure and operation of the paper strip feeding mechanism to be described later herein.

A vertical notch 32 is provided in each of the inner side plates 3!? and 3| for each-of the rollers. These notches are of a width freely to receive the shafts of the rollers therein. Each of these notches has a channel formed on its outward face by ofiset strips 33 (see Fig. 3) which may be secured to the plates 38 and 3| as by welding. A notch filling strip 34 has its edges inserted slidabl in the channels of each of the notches -32. The center portion of each of the strips 34 isoffset inwardly as at 35 to bring its inner face substantially flush with that of the plate in which it is mounted. These notch filling strips may be removed by withdrawing them vertically from their channels for inspecting or servicing the rollers or their bearings.

A pair. of end rollers 3'! and 38 are mounted substantially in horizontal alignment with the upper set of guide rollers 49. A second pair of upperend rollers 39 and as also are mounted above the end rollers 3! and 38, respectively. A pair of lower end rollers GI and 62 are mounted substantially in horizontal alignment with the lower set of guide rollers 24. Central idler rollers 3 and M are mounted, one above, and-one below, the upper and lower sets of guide rollers l9 and 24, respectively.

An upper feed belt 41, preferably constructed of chain mesh as illustrated in Fig. 4, is passed over each of the upper guide rollers l9 and. beneath each of the lower guide rollers 24, as shown in Fig. 1. This upper mesh belt also is passed around the upper end rollers 39 and 4! and'over the top central idler roller 43.

A lower mesh feed belt 43 of similar chain mesh construction is passed, directly beneath the upper belt and in contact therewith, throughout its tor- 4 tuous path over the upper set of guide rollers 19 and beneath the lower guide rollers 24. This lower feed belt then passes around the end rollers 37 and 38, beneath the lower end rollers M and 42, and beneath the central lower idler roller :24. Power drive means comprise an electric motor 49 which may be arranged to drive through a variable speed control mechanism 5!}. The output shaft 5! of the variable speed controller is connected by means of a V-belt and drive pulleys 52 and 53 to the shaft of the end roller 37. Preferably this end roller is provided with a gear 5 3 which has meshed connection with a second gear BEsecured to the shaft of the upper end roller 39.

lower end rollers t! and 42, outwardly of the guard plate 30. -A-drive chain 58 may be passed around these sprockets, -followin-g substantially the path of the lower *mesh belt so as to drive the guide rollers. Ordinarily, however, the mesh feed belts employed will themselves providesuitable drive means for the rollers and their supported mesh belts. In such cases the sprockets 51 and drive chains 58 can be omitted.

A preferred form of mesh belt -.construction is illustrated in Fig. 4. This comprises flattened, helical =coils 59 and 69 of alternately opposite pitch. These coils are-connected together by corrugated hinge wires 6-], each hinge wire-being welded. at its ends as at 62 to an end of one of the coils through which it is passed and which it hingedly connects. By using coils of opposite pitch in alternate positions throughout the length of the belt, the lateral eamming effect of the coils is neutralized and the tendency for the paper to creep laterally off the rollers is eliminated. If coils of but a Single pitch were employed the tendency for the paper to creep sideways off the rollers would be such as to make the arrangement unusable.

The operation of the mechanism is as follows. Assuming that the machine is cold, the tank ii] is empty, and the rollers are at rest. To place the machine in operation, the outlet valve in one of the laterals i3 is'opened at the maximum height to which it is desired to carry the liquid in the tank. The other outlet valves below this "valve should be closed. A quantity -'of liquidsaturating material 63, which may be heated bituminous material of a required composition, is introduced into the tank I'll through the inlet I: to the required level, by means of the circulating pump 14. Thedrive motor "49 "is energized todrive the mesh belts 41 and 3-8 synchronously. It usually is desirable to operate the machine for a *short period of time before introducing a strip 54 of paper therein so as to "bring the rollers and belts up to approximately the temperature of the bath. The end of the strip "5d of paper to be saturated then is introduced as at 65:1nto the right-hand side'of the machine, as illustrated in The end of the paper is advanced manually until it is gripped between the converging runs of the upper and lower mesh belts i :and d8. This will occur in the illustrated embodimentsubstantially above the right-hand upper guide roller 19. The strip of paper being positively gripped between the overlying runs of the upper and lower mesh belts Will be carried in the tortuous path defined by these belts around the upper and lower feed rollers I9 and 24 throughout the length of the machine, and then will emerge from between the left-hand upper rollers 31 and 39. From here the end of the strip may be seized, as by suitable tongs or other means, and carried to the left and introduced intosuch other treating or processing mechanisms as may be employed. Since these additional mechanisms form no part of the present invention they are not illustrated.

During the initial threading of the strip into the machine the speed of the rollers is adjusted by means of the speed controller 50 to produce a slow movement of the mesh feed belts. After the initial end of the strip of paper has emerged from the machine and the process is in operation, the speed may be increased up to a desired operating speed which at present is believed to be between 100 and 250 feet per minute.

In the modified form of saturator shown in Fig. 5 a tank 80 has an offset sludge sump 8| at one end thereof. A sludge scraping belt 82 is mounted on rollers 14 and 15, at least one of which has driven connection with the drive motor in the same manner as the power actuated rollers in the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This belt is driven so as to move the lower arm of the belt toward the sludge sump. Idler pulleys 1B are mounted to support the upper run of this belt. A plurality of sludge scraper blades 83 are mounted transversely of the belt 82. These blades may be of T section metal to carry sludge, settling in the main tank, toward the sludge sump, from which it may be drained from time to time as required through a sludge drain outlet 8 In this modified form of the invention, a lower set of guide rollers 85 are journaled between parallel H frame members 81 similar to the members 28 and 29 in Fig. 2.

A set of upper guide rollers 88 is mounted on H frame members 89, which are mounted well above the upper edge of the tank. These upper H frame members are longer than the tank, as are also a pair of H frame members 90 which are mounted adjacent the upper edge of each side of the tank.

End rollers 9| and 92 are mounted in vertically separated position beyond the left end of the tank on vertical frame members 93, while similar end rollers 94 and 95 are mounted beyond the righthand end of the tank.

Three top idler rollers 91, 98 and 99 are mounted as illustrated on suitable frame structure, as are also three bottom idler rollers I00, I01 and I02. A suitable drip pan I03 is mounted beneath a lower feed belt I05 to catch the drippings of saturating material which may be carried from the tank by the belt. I

Upper and lower mesh feed belts I04 and I05 are mounted around the guide and idler rollers in the same general manner as in Fig. 1. It will be noted, however, that at the upper end of each loop of the guide belts, they are passed over two upper guide rollers 88. Each such pair of upper guide rollers is spaced apart a distance sufficient to separate the vertical runs of each loop of the feed belts a distance sufficient to admit a man therebetween. By this arrangement cleaning and servicing of the tank and the associated mechanisms is greatly facilitated.

The operation of this modified form of the invention, including the roller driving mechanisms and the insertion and discharge of the paper, or other strip sheet material being treated, is the same as that described for Fig. 1.

In Fig. 6 there is shown another form of the invention which is generally similar to the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2 with the exception that the lower belt or traveling member, indicated by 48a on this figure, is carried outside of the tank and runs beneath it in much the same manner as it does in Fig. 5. The parts of the device of Fig. 6, which are the same as those of Fig. 1, have been given corresponding reference numerals distinguished by the sufiix a.

More particularly in Fig. 6 a pair of upper outer guide rollers 68 and B9 are provided and beneath these, respectively, a lower pair of outer guide rollers 19 and H are provided. Intermediate the lower rollers is a guide roller 12 over which the belt 48a, passes. Any suitable means may be provided for driving all or certain of the rollers in order to impart motion to the two belts 41a. and 48a. For example, the means shown and described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2 may be adapted for this purpose.

When the belt is carried beneath the tank there may also be provided a trough 13 to catch drippings from the belt, and any suitable means may be provided for returning the drippin s to the tank or otherwise disposing of them.

The operation of the device of Fig. 6 is the same as that of Fig. 1.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred form of my invention, it will be understood by those familiar with the art that several modifications are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is desired,

therefore, not to limit the invention except as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A saturator for porous strip sheet material comprising a tank adapted to contain liquefied saturating material therein, a plurality of feed rollers having axially projecting shaft end portions mounted in said tank in alternately vertically offset relation to each other, apertured belt means for feeding a strip of sheet material in a tortuous path around the outer faces of said rollers, power drive means operatively connected to certain of said rollers, a partition on a side of said tank spaced inwardly from said power drive means, said inwardly spaced partition having a plurality of notches therein to receive the shaft end portions of said rollers, and a notch filling insert adapted to be slidably inserted in each notch substantially to fill said notch thereby to present an unbroken wall surface 'endwise adjacent to said rollers to prevent injury to said strip material in its progress around said rollers.

2. A saturator for porous strip sheet material comprising a tank adapted to contain liquefied saturating material, a plurality of belt feed rollers mounted in said tank in alternately vertically offset relation to each other, idler rollers mounted both above and below said offset rollers, power drive means operatively connected to said feed rollers, a pair of chain mesh belts formed of flattened helical coils of alternately opposite pitch connected by corrugated hinge wires arranged in mutually superposed relation to each other and passing in contact with each other in a tortuous path around the outer faces of said belt feed rollers, said belts being substantially as wide as the sheet material to be saturated, said belts separating beyond each end of said belt feed rollers, the upper of said belts passing 'raroundithe upper idler rollers :and the lower tbeltzpassingzaround the lower idler rollers to receive a strip ofporous sheet material between said belts adjacent one end of said tank, and to eject :sa'idstrip. from between :said belts adjacent 5 the other end 1 of 'said tank.

JOHN D. BE'ATTY.

' REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 10 file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PA'I'ENTS" Number Name Date Cady Aug. 13, 1918 Cady July 6, 1920 Johnston June '8, 1926 Cumfer June 12, 1928 Johnston Jan.,I5, I929 Crumb et a1 Dec. 19, 1933 Crowley 'Mar. 19,, 1940 

